With Pot Rules, an Olive Branch to Past Users

The State Liquor Control Board today released draft rules for how it will regulate the state’s marijuana industry, with a notable nod to those who didn’t wait for pot to be legalized before they started growing the herb.

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Similar to the state’s liquor laws, a point system will be used to gauge whether criminal backgrounds should bar you from growing and selling marijuana; if you have eight points or more on your record, no selling pot.

But the liquor board will exempt two misdemeanor convictions of marijuana possession within the last three years.

As explained by liquor control board spokesman Brian Smith, it’s a sort of amnesty (our word) extended to bring underground sellers into the light.

“That was a common thing we heard: People who had been operating – growing – on their own, they wanted to get into the market but they were afraid they couldn’t apply because they’d had a misdemeanor,” Smith says.

“It’s an encouragement for them to get it,” he says.

All other misdemeanors received within the last three years count as four points each. Felonies count as 12 points.